Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 179 
some nitric nitrogen, often considerable quantities of it, more in¬ 
jurious ash per 100 of sugar, more injurious nitrogen per 100 of 
sugar, less phosphoric acid—which apparently correlates with the 
presence of nitric nitrogen, more potassic oxid and very much less 
calcic oxid, about one-half as much, though our soils are very rich in 
calcic oxid carrying from 4.0 to 6.0 percent of it. Manganese is 
always present in small quantities, from 0.02 to 0.50 percent of the 
ash. 
The deterioration that we have endeavored to study may be 
summed up as consisting of a decided falling* off in the percentage 
of sugar and the production of unusual quantities of molasses. 
These properties are often if not always accompanied by poor keep- 
ing qualities. The molasses produced are characterized by very 
large amounts of nitric nitrogen. Our experiments demonstrate 
that these properties in the beets are produced by nitrates applied to 
the soil and that the beets so produced are identical in composition 
with many, if not with the greater portion of the beets delivered to 
the factories. Further, our investigations have proven that these 
soils contain varying, often very large amounts of nitric acid or 
nitrates, much larger than we have shown is necessary to produce 
exceedingly poor beets. Further, our experiments show that while 
the beet is probably most susceptible to the prejudicial effects of 
larger amounts of nitrates in June and July an abundant supply in 
August and September will affect the beets prejudicially. 
Our conclusion is that the increased production of nitric nitro¬ 
gen in our irrigated soils over large sections is the chief cause for 
the deterioration of our beets. 
